Germany Tour November 2024
by on January 24, 2025 in 2025

ACHTUNG, BABY! I got back from my Germany tour late November and then Christmas came along, followed in January by a bout of flu but at long last here’s my reportof my Germany tour. To cut a (very) long story short, it was fantastic. I decided to do the whole tour by train, which meant catching the Eurostar from London to Cologne (via Brussels). The last time I went by train to the continent was in the late 80s. That was before budget flights, which meant that trains were cheap and flights were expensive.

First gig was at The Tankstelle (Petrol/Gas Station) in Cologne, a really cool club with a student vibe and great performers (poetry and music alike). I drank copious amounts of the Kölsch beer. Notice the random photo of a guy perched on a balcony. Next up was Kallmünz in Bavaria, a six-hour train ride. At times we nearly got up to 200 miles/h speed, that was fast enough for me. Kallmünz is an artist colony, set in a beautiful old, small town. I played in a gallery, it was almost like a house concert, very intimate. I and everyone who was there enjoyed it very much. Many thanks to Ludwig Bäuml, the gallery owner for inviting me and to Heinz Grobmeier for organising the gig. More of Heinz in a later post, he is the most amazing musician and inventor of strange musical instruments I have ever met. Onwards on yet another long train ride to Lemgo, near Hannover where I was invited to play by my friends Ulrich & Christina. This was my first ever Sofa(house) concert and I enjoyed it tremendously. Ulrich provided the PA and played the saxophone on a couple of songs. In the break I had a chance to talk to the people in the audience – it helps that I speak German.

I continued my travels up north and arrived late in Hamburg. The next morning I woke up to the streets covered in snow – a nice surprise. Undaunted, I hit the Beatles trail and located the Indra Club. That was the club where the Beatles played their very first engagement in Hamburg in August 1960. It happens to be in St Pauli, the red light district of Hamburg – stroll on! In the evening I played at the Freundlich & Kompetent bar. Great name – Friendly & Competent. True to their name it had a friendly vibe, a competent sound engineer and a very good PA. My last stop was Berlin: a city I last saw in 1976 when I lived there for half a year. Then it was a long hot summer, regular visits to the Dschungel, the club where David Bowie hung out and endless parties in East Berlin. Now it was a lot colder and I am a lot older. The gig in the evening was at the Alter Schwede, a really cosy pub with a wood burning stove and very decent beer. I got this gig via Heiko who manages the pub and is a musician himself. Maybe due to the cold weather not many people turned up, but then again I am not a household name there. Thanks Heiko, for this gig, I enjoyed it! The following day I strolled around Berlin and ended up at Checkpoint Charlie where I used to cross into East Berlin every weekend, way back when. I walked around the center and dropped by for a drink at the 25 Hour Hotel. The toilet there was worth visiting more than once – as you can see! A pee with a view; sadly this doesn’t rhyme! Auf Wiedersehen, until my next tour. Their WURST is the BEST.

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